


The Prophet's Laurel

by FairNdSquare



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Dragon Age II Spoilers, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, Dragon Age: Origins Spoilers, F/M, Herbalism, I take a few liberties with magic and healing so there's probably some holes and inaccuracies, Medieval Medicine, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Multi, Other, Slow Burn, a lil bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:33:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27015073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairNdSquare/pseuds/FairNdSquare
Summary: Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.
Relationships: Blackwall | Thom Rainier/Female Inquisitor, Blackwall/Female Inquisitor, Cullen Rutherford/Original Character(s), Cullen Rutherford/Original Female Character(s), Female Adaar/Blackwall | Thom Rainier
Comments: 30
Kudos: 166





	1. Un

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting to ao3 so please bear with me if the formatting is a bit wonky.

# The Prophet's Laurel

### Un

Aching pain. That was the first thing Madeleine noticed when she came to her senses. Shooting, aching pain starting from her forehead. Did she trip in the locker room again?

Madeleine didn't remember being in the locker room at work, though. In fact, she didn't remember going _into_ the locker room since she clocked out from her shift. The last thing she remembered was… was…

She didn't know. Her thoughts moved too fast, as she recalled snapshots of her memory. Saying goodnight to sweet Katie at the reception desk, the route from the emergency clinic to Madeleine's apartment, the singing in the alley...

Singing… What was that singing? She tried to remember what it was, her mind straining.

A mirror was at the end of that alley. That couldn’t have been making noise. Mirrors don’t sing, right? But Madeleine remembered another noise, the loud sound of a trash can toppling over, and rats skittering. Mirrors definitely don’t make those noises.

She doesn’t remember anything past the scare she had when the trash can fell behind her.

Her head _ached_. She felt beneath her, her fingers scraping on stone. Slowly, Madeleine opened her eyes, the brightness blinding her for a moment. She pulled her knees under her, which barked in pain once she started pushing herself up. she groaned as she got to her feet, her head throbbing.

With a startled blink, Madeleine knew she wasn’t in that dank alley anymore.

Moss- and ivy-covered stone walls lined both sides of a room she stood in, light filtering in through cracks and pointed arch windows. Grass had found its way to grow through the cracks in the floor, outlining the stones in green. The room somehow _felt_ ancient, like nothing had dared breathe in it. Even the dust seemed to hang in the air, frozen in the sunlight.

Madeleine slowly turned, and gasped at the large mirror behind her. It looked exactly like the one she saw in that alley, with that same antique golden frame and the pointed arch shape she noticed on the windows. Except, instead of glowing, as the other one had, this one had gone dark. It looked like her mother’s makeup compact, with that black coloring around the edges, but darker.

Somehow, it felt familiar to her, like she had seen it before, and not just in that alley. Where had she seen it?

Her head throbbed again, and she had to close her eyes to regain her composure. She needed to figure out where she was now. She needed to go _home_.

Madeleine crossed the ancient room, careful not to disturb anything until she got to the rotted wood door. She pressed on it, and it didn’t budge. She pushed a little harder, and still nothing. Her head was buzzing still, and black dots threatened to cloud her vision. She paused to breathe deeply and reorient herself, before she threw all her weight and strength into pushing open the door.

Ever so slowly, it scraped open, just enough for Madeleine to squeeze through to the other side. As soon as she was clear, a sharp pain echoed in her mind and she doubled over to empty her stomach’s contents on the stone floor.

After she finished retching, she straightened as best as she could and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She noticed, to her dismay, that some of her mess got onto her sneakers and her scrubs. The poor uniform still had stains in other places from her shift at the clinic, and desperately needed to be run through the laundry.

Regardless of her attire, Madeleine continued to wander through the ancient building, trying to make sense of her surroundings. The room she had entered was a hallway of sorts, and she followed it to what looked to be a courtyard. She stood at the archway of it rather than continuing on, and looked around.

To her surprise, and possibly to her horror, a glass mosaic mural gleamed on the wall next to her, depicting a deity she had seen before. Mythal, an elven goddess from a game franchise.

Elves didn’t exist in her world, and yet here a mosaic was, laid into the stones of an ancient structure.

As she moved along the wall, she noticed the pointed arches again, the same shape as the mirrors, the same shape as what she knew to be ancient elven architecture. That meant those mirrors weren’t just mirrors. They were...

Her head throbbed harder, like someone had shoved something through the back of her skull. The pain had Madeleine seeing stars and she nearly toppled over before leaning herself against the nearest wall.

Eluvians. She had walked through Eluvians…

The world tilted, and Madeleine’s mind went dark.

* * *

The stars above seemed to spin around the sky as Madeleine came to her senses again. If it were even possible, her head hurt even more than before. She had to blink a few times to get the stars to stop moving. She noticed that beyond the stars was a dark violet-pink sky, probably just before dawn, with clouds covering up a large portion of it all. How long had she been out?

Madeleine sat up slowly, her body barking in pain as she lifted herself and looked around. Tents, about five of them, pitched in a circle around a covered wagon. The closest one had it's flaps pinned open, and a pair of eyes staring straight at her.

Her heart nearly stopped in her chest when she saw the gold eyes pinned on her in the early morning light. Then her heart nearly stopped again when the person stood up and came out of the shadows of the tent.

The person, a woman, was tall. From the revealing clothing on her, it was obvious she was muscular. But it was only when lightning struck in the distance that Madeleine could see the horns curling from her forehead.

The heavens opened up, and rain started to pour. Madeleine still couldn't believe her eyes.

Qunari, this shadowed woman was Qunari. Madeleine had to be dreaming. People like this didn't exist in her world, only in fiction.

The large woman stepped forward in the rain, and squatted a safe distance away from Madeleine. "Good morning," she said, her voice startlingly British in accent. Madeleine had heard that same voice countless times. "How do you feel?"

Madeleine blinked, then blinked again, and then once more. "I-I…" The horned woman was patient enough to not interrupt as Madeleine found her words. "Am I dreaming?"

The chuckle that sounded from the woman was so _real_ , "No, _basra_ , you're awake." That word, Madeleine recognized the sound of it as Qunlat.

"Th-then… how did I get here?" she asked, wiping the rain from her face.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," there's a hint of humor in the woman's words, even as she reaches a hand down to help Madeleine up. "Let's get you out of the rain, then you can tell me."

Madeleine hesitated in taking the woman's hand, but the woman was gentle in bringing her to her feet. The two ducked under the open tent, the woman lighting the lantern inside and closing the flaps.

Now, in the candlelight, Madeleine could see the woman's features. A strong jaw and sharp cheeks, a wide and crooked nose, warm taupe skin with a light dusting of freckles underneath various scars. The woman looked so… familiar and yet…

_Because this isn't a video game, you idiot_ , Madeleine chastised herself.

"You can call me Asaaranda," the Qunari woman said, leaning against a barrel opposite the little cot inside the tent. She motioned for Madeleine to sit on the latter.

_Asaaranda_. That was the name of Madeleine's latest Inquisitor, whom she headcanoned to be an ex-Saarebas mercenary. She had given her newest character a tragic backstory, a personality, and yet… here this woman was, bearing the scars of Madeleine's fantasies.

Thedas. Madeleine was in _fucking Thedas_.

That would explain the elven ruin, the architecture, the Eluvians, and the horned woman in front of her.

Madeleine became hyper aware that this was all real. This wasn't a video game anymore. This wasn't a figment of her imagination. She was _awake_. And the woman in front of her was _alive_.

Maker, Asaaranda was real. This woman, this person, she was real. Madeleine had ruined her life, and she had _no idea_.

The Qunari mage perched on that wooden barrel and stared at Madeleine, her golden eyes seeming to glow against the candlelight. "Do I get to know your name? Do you remember it?"

She nods slightly, "Madeleine."

“Good. Do you remember what happened, Madeleine?” the woman asked, her head tilted slightly.

“I-” she started, her brows knitting together, trying to make sense of everything. “There was a mirror, and somehow I was in that building, and I… I passed out.”

The scars around Asaaranda’s lips seemed to be highlighted in the dim light as she smirked. “One of my kin found you in an old ruin, passed out on the stones. He carried you back here when you wouldn’t wake up.”

“He… saved me? Why?”

A shrug bunches the woman’s bandeau around her chest, “Nearly the entire company wonders the same thing. I just think he has a soft spot.” Her golden eyes flicked down to Madeleine’s soiled scrubs. “Where did you say you were from?”

“I… didn’t say.”

“Then now is a perfect time to answer my question.”

Madeleine blinked at Asaaranda, taking a deep breath and trying to figure out what to say. Apparently she took too long, because the Qunari leaned back and folded her arms.

“Kaariss said you hit your head pretty hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot, _basra_.” Madeleine shook her head slightly, trying to ignore the ache that was slowly subsiding. Her brows knitted back together again, creasing her forehead as she tried to think. “Tell you what, you keep trying to figure yourself out, get some rest. Dawn’s still a while off. We’ll talk more then.”

Madeleine didn’t have time to nod before Asaaranda stood up from the barrel and ducked under the tent flaps. She sat there, staring at where the woman had left for a good few minutes, her mind still spinning slightly.

How was she supposed to explain that she’s not from anywhere in this universe? She couldn’t just say she wasn’t from this world, that would surely get her killed. Madeleine didn’t want to die, she wanted to go home. And she didn’t know how.

Realization seemed to wash over her for a moment, the throb in her head quieting itself. Asaaranda was still with her mercenary company, and not with the Inquisition. If Madeleine was truly in this universe, the Divine Conclave hadn’t even happened yet. And after the Conclave, the Inquisition will begin. During the games, she remembered the Eluvians Morrigan and Solas used. Maybe, if she could convince Morrigan to show her how to access the Crossroads through her Eluvian…

Madeleine could go _home_. She only had to stay alive long enough to get there.

She _had to_ stay alive.


	2. Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> html is weiiiiiiird fam

# The Prophet's Laurel

### Deux

Madeleine barely got any sleep on that hard cot, from how uncomfortable it was and from her mind scrambling for a plan. She had thought long and hard about what she would say to the soon-to-be Herald of Andraste and her mercenary company, and how she could try to get them to spare her life.

By the time Asaaranda entered the tent at dawn, Madeleine thought she had a plan.

“Good morning, again, _basra_. I hope you remember who you are now, because I’m ready to hear it,” Asaaranda greeted, wearing her _Isstaras-Saar_ armor. She looked massive in it, much larger than the _Antaam-Saar_ Madeleine saw earlier. A damaged spear and a longsword crossed her back like a deadly X. It was weird for Madeleine to see her without a proper mage’s staff, but that wasn’t for her to concern herself with now.

The human woman nodded, swallowing thickly. 

“Let’s start with where you’re from.”

“Nowhere.” When Asaaranda raises her eyebrows skeptically, Madeleine adds, “That you’d know of.” The skepticism persists, but Madeleine holds her ground. 

“Fine. How did you get into that ruin?”

That wasn’t something she had planned on asking, so Madeleine answered honestly. “I don’t really know. One minute, I was on my way home, the next, I was there. It was… strange. It’s like I was teleported, as if by-”

“Magic,” Asaaranda interrupted, her jaw clenching. “I could smell it on you when Kaariss brought you here, along with your vomit.”

“You could smell it?”

The Qunari nodded, still showing no signs of being a mage besides the scars on her lips. “When you’ve been around magic most of your life, you know what it smells like. Kind of like an incoming storm.”

“Does it… sing, too?”

Asaaranda’s head tilted curiously. “Sing? Sometimes. Why do you ask?”

Madeleine shrugs. “I remember hearing this faint sound before I ended up in that ruin. Like something was singing to me.”

The tall woman didn’t say anything for a while, only watching Madeleine closely. Finally, she asks, “Do you have any dreams?”

Madeleine shakes her head. “Not usually.”

Asaaranda nods and walks farther into the tent. “My kin and I still don’t know what to do with you. Until we figure that out, you should get changed. You smell.” She opened up the barrel she sat on earlier and pulled out a bag of sorts. She pulled it open and dug through it, bringing out a linen shirt and pants. “These probably won’t fit, but it’s the best I can do. It’s the only _basra_ clothing I keep.” The clothes were tossed into Madeleine’s lap, and Asaaranda made her way back to the tent flaps. “Get dressed and meet me by the horses once you’re finished. I need to talk to my lieutenants.” 

With that, the tall woman was gone, and Madeleine was alone. She got to work undressing herself, happy to get out of the soiled scrubs. Before long, she slid into the loose linen clothing Asaaranda gave her. The shirt’s collar was wide, and barely sat on her shoulders even with the cut V in the front of it laced up tightly. The pants weren’t as loose, but they were ridiculously long. She had to roll the waist multiple times to even be able to roll the legs up enough to sit above her dirty sneakers.

Madeleine hoped she didn’t take too long as she pushed her way out of the tent. The sunlight disoriented her for a moment, but she quickly adjusted and was shocked to see so many Qunari mercenaries milling about. There were four standing near the covered wagon, Asaaranda among them, and five more walking back and forth between tents, making tracks in the mud.

She wove her way to the four mercenaries standing near two large horses. Asaaranda leaned against the side of the wagon, watching the other three through her eyelashes. Two of the three were male, one of them with a darker skintone than the other, but not as dark as the woman that stood with them. The darker male had no horns, and the woman had the largest horns out of all of them, Asaaranda included. 

“You’re awake,” the lighter-toned man spoke directly to Madeleine, his eyes seeming to light up as he saw her. The hornless male merely looked at her, his expression unreadable as opposed to the angry woman beside him. 

“Oh look, Kaariss, your pet’s awake,” said the woman, her eyes boring into Madeleine. Kaariss, the one smiling at her, didn’t seem fazed. 

“She is no one’s pet, Shokrakar,” Asaaranda said, not moving from her position against the cart. 

The man yet to be named only glanced at Madeleine’s body and turned to Asaaranda, his arms folded over his large chest. “Do you think she’d survive in a town?” 

The woman, Shokrakar, snorted, “Not a chance, but it wouldn’t be our problem.”

“I didn’t save her from that ruin just to leave her in some random town,” Kaariss glared at the angry woman, who seemed to delight in his annoyance. 

“Then why did you save her? She’ll just be another mouth to feed, not to mention slow us down with her short legs. You should have left her there.”

Kaariss opened his mouth and closed it, unsure of what to say. “I don’t know… it just seemed like the right thing to do…” 

The unnamed man spoke, “She wouldn’t be useful in a fight, and she is smaller than all of us, even Sataa.”

 _Oh no_ , thought Madeleine. This was all going downhill so fast… if she didn’t stay with them, she probably wouldn’t ever make it to the Inquisition. She had to do something.

“I’m a healer,” Madeleine interrupted, nervously looking up at the four of them.

Asaaranda raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me that before.”

“You didn’t ask.”

There was a beat of silence as the hornless Qunari watched Asaaranda as she considered her options. Madeleine found herself wringing her hands slightly, trying to calm her own nerves.

"How good of a healer?" the mercenary captain asked as all of her lieutenants turned to look at the _basra_. 

"I can do most of the practical healing. Stitches, setting bones, the like. Herbs and medicines, I can learn," Madeleine answered, hoping it would be enough. She knew her sort of herbalism and medicine in her world, but the video games had never gone too far into those topics. It was mostly saving the world, not saving individual lives. Hopefully, it wasn't much harder than what she was already accustomed to. 

"What healer doesn't know how to use herbs?" Shokrakar snorted, leaning back and placing her hands on her wrists. 

Madeleine searched for an excuse. "I was the healer people went to for accidents. Emergencies." That wasn't entirely _wrong_. Madeleine had worked in an emergency clinic for the past few years, after she finished medical school. 

Asaaranda looked at her a long moment, those golden eyes calculating, before she nodded slightly. 

"Alright, _basra_ , we won't feed you to the wolves in a village. You can travel with us," she said, to which Shokrakar groaned. "But you'll be expected to help out. Cooking, packing, making camp. Taarlok will take your name down once we settle for the night." Finally, the third Qunari in the group was named. Taarlok nodded and walked away, joining the other mercenaries in their activities. 

"You really trust this… human. This _basra_ , to stay with us?" Shokrakar questioned, leaning forward to look at her captain. 

"We'll see," Asaaranda smirked at Madeleine, before standing up on her own two feet. "Don't worry so much, Shok. As you said, she's small. If she kills you, it's your own fault." 

With that, the soon-to-be Inquisitor swaggered away, before helping another mercenary take down a tent. Shokrakar huffed and stormed off, her battle axe barely swaying with the movement. The last of the group, besides Madeleine herself, was Kaariss. 

"You seem to be alright, despite yesterday," he smiled warmly. "I'm glad. I thought you were dead at first."

"Thank you for saving me," Madeleine returned his smile, her arms moving to hug herself subconsciously. Kaariss noticed the movement. 

"You don't need to be afraid of me, _basra_. It's the others you should be wary of," there was a small smirk tugging at his mouth as he looked over her head at the gathering group of Qunari. 

Madeleine found herself swallowing thickly as she turned to see the company behind her.

She prayed to the Maker that she had made the smart choice.


	3. Trois

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this random upload. I just got so excited to get y'all caught up bc of where I'm at in the story, writing-wise. I'll try to settle on a scheduled posting day soon.

#  The Prophet's Laurel 

###  Trois 

The company had made it to whatever lord's estate by nightfall, having delivered the ancient elven artifacts he had contracted the mercenaries to retrieve for him. Apparently the lady of the estate was pleased enough with the stolen goods that she urged the company to stay within their walls for the night, instead of braving the forest surrounding the estate. Asaaranda had politely declined the rooms she offered, content to have the company stay in their tents near the stables. 

The mercenaries reveled around their fire pit, drinking the wine and ale provided by the lord's estate and enjoying each other's company. Well, the company of everyone except Madeleine. 

She sat alone on the wagon, the cover having been taken down when they unloaded the artifacts. Her cup of wine was mostly untouched, sitting beside her knee as she dangled her feet off the edge of the wooden cart. 

She watched as the company sat together around the fire, laughing and chatting. Taarlok sat on the ground, a tall, broad Qunari woman in his lap, leaning into his chest. Kaariss sat on a chest with another man, both grinning and joking with the others. Shokrakar was perched on a barrel, laughing loudly at something someone else said, a tankard in her hand. 

Asaaranda had left her spot by the fire near Kaariss and strode to where Madeleine sat alone, her own tankard in hand. "We don't bite, usually. You're welcome to join us." 

"I appreciate that. I'm just… not one for crowds." Indeed, she wasn't. They usually made her uncomfortable, and out of place. Here, in Thedas, surrounded by a completely different species? It was so much worse. 

"It will die down soon enough, when some of them peel away to find other sorts of entertainment," Asaaranda said casually. It must've been a normal thing, then, because Madeleine watched as a few of the mercenaries disappeared into a servant passage behind the stables. 

The two were silent for a few moments, Asaaranda standing next to where Madeleine's knees were hanging over the wagon. 

"I want to trust you, I do. There's just… something about you that makes me curious. But you're hiding it from me," Asaaranda admits, glancing sidelong at the odd woman. 

"Can you blame me? I don't know whether or not you'd kill me if I told you," Madeleine answered with her own honesty, to which Asaaranda chuckled softly. 

"Fair enough, _basra_." The woman sighed after she took a swig from her tankard, her lips pursing. "So, how do we trust each other, hmm?" 

Madeleine shrugged, picking up her cup and looking at the dark red wine inside of it. "Promise not to kill me?"

Asaaranda chuckled again quietly, turning to rest her hip on the wagon and looking at the _basra_. "That's an odd request in this business. Why do you want to stay alive so bad?"

"I want to go _home_ ," Madeleine vented, her chest deflating. "And I can't. Not until… not for a long time." A lump formed in the top of Madeleine's throat, threatening to waver her words. 

"Why is that?"

Madeleine sniffed, trying to stop herself from getting emotional. "That's where the promise comes in. You will think I'm absolutely insane, and probably think about killing me," she tried to muse, to hide her fears. 

The Qunari looked at her with an expression she didn't see often. It looked like… pity? Sympathy? Usually she was the one offering her sympathy, as she stitches up a little girl's head after a bad spill on the playground, or setting a man's bone after he fell off a ladder. Now she was getting nearly the same expression from her own character, who didn't even know that her creator sat before her. 

"I promise, no harm will come to you, either by me or my kin. We're not… we're not like that. As much as Shokrakar grumbles about humans, not one of the soldiers in my company treats anyone like that," Asaaranda assures her, her voice quiet yet firm, positive in her words. 

Madeleine was quiet for a bit, trying to process her words, trying to find her own. She was inclined to trust the Qunari, having already known so much about her from her own fantasies. Yet, was this world really like she imagined? Was this the same world state? Will things happen the same way that Madeleine had planned for the game?

"Tell you what," Asaaranda started, "If I tell you my big secret, will you tell me yours?" 

Madeleine had a strong feeling she already knew the secret, but nodded anyways. 

"You know of the Qunari, right? The nation, not the race? You know their religion?" Asaaranda continued, checking to see if she had to explain more. Madeleine only nodded, and she pressed on. "They hate mages, they fear them. Even their own mages they torture and maim. They sew their mouths shut, wrap them in chains, and use them as a weapon. And I was one of them." Asaaranda smirked, hiding a darkness behind her eyes as she ran a finger over the small scars on her lips. "These aren't just to look badass, you know? I was one of them, one of the _Saarebas_ , the title they give mages. And I defected, I escaped. Others haven't been so lucky."

It was quiet for a moment, so both women could think on the words that were just said. Madeleine had never heard her talk about being a _Saarebas_ , because it's not canon to the game. This felt… much more real, more emotional. Her heart hurt.

"I'm a mage, but I can't act like one. If I do, and the Qun finds out, they'll send an assassin for me, or worse, a reeducator. Or Templars will catch wind of it and throw me into a Circle. My entire company knows I'm a mage, but they also know the stakes if I get caught. That's part of the reason we're normally wary towards _basras_ , so I don't risk getting caught."

"What does _basra_ mean? You keep calling me it…"

"It's Qunlat. Literally? Foreign thing. But I use it more as a nod to our differences. Like calling you an outsider."

Madeleine found herself nodding, finding humor in just how accurate that word described her. Still, she had one more question to clarify Asaaranda's character. "If you were _Saarebas_ , why do you keep Qunari culture? You wear their armor, you speak their language. You wouldn't want to rid yourself of them?"

Asaaranda shook her head, smiling a little. "No, I don't. As much as they mistreated me and all of my kin, I don't want to give it all up. But I do want to rub it in everyone's face a little bit. It's my own twisted way of not conforming to the Qun or the Chantry, like giving them both a massive middle finger."

Madeleine had thought the same thing when she had designed her character. Granted, it had only been a headcanon to excuse her modding addiction, but it had still been a thought. Still, she smiled slightly at the woman's words.

"Alright, your turn, _basra_."

 _Oh shit_. Madeleine wasn't ready for this conversation. She didn't think she'd ever be ready for it. But she couldn't lie, not after what Asaaranda had revealed to her. 

She took a long swig of her wine, and spoke. 

"I'm from a different universe."


	4. Quatre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short little filler chapter to kind of establish the story a little bit better, to sort of lead up to the next few chapters.

#  The Prophet's Laurel 

###  Quatre 

Asaaranda had looked at Madeleine like she had grown two heads. Especially when Madeleine told her that Thedas was the setting for a work of fiction in her universe. 

It had taken a long while of the two of them drinking and talking it through before Asaaranda agreed to keep an open mind about it, to give Madeleine a chance to go back home. She didn't need her to understand it, she just needed her to go with it. 

Their conversation had ended with Asaaranda needing to go think on it, and both women needed their sleep. 

The company had packed up and left the minor lord's estate at dawn, with Madeleine in the wagon so they wouldn't be hindered by her "short legs". Madeleine believed she was in the average height range back home, but here, surrounded by Qunari? She was an outlier. 

Asaaranda hadn't said anything to her besides a 'good morning' and went along her way. Madeleine had supposed that had become the new normal, and wasn't fussing over it. She preferred her actual life over any sort of social life. 

A few of the other mercenaries didn't get that memo, however.

On the road towards Montsimmard, Kaariss and a smaller Qunari woman had come up alongside the wagon. She had introduced herself as Sataa, and kept Madeleine company as the mercenaries made their way through the Orlesian countryside. 

Sataa was probably the lightest-toned Qunari in the group, though her face was heavily dusted with freckles and her auburn hair looked like fire under the sunlight. Her horns, which Madeleine could've guessed were once large and backwards-sweeping, were broken, uneven. She had a bow strung across her body and a matching quiver peeking up over her left shoulder. 

Their conversations never really scratched too far below the surface. It was mostly light chatter, talking about where they're headed and how long they've been in their respective positions. Sataa talked very vaguely about how Asaaranda (whom she referred to as Asa) found her and brought her into the group. Madeleine didn't speak much about her work experience, not really sure how her medical jargon would translate into Thedasian medicine. 

"Y'know, after our last healer left, I tried to act as one. I wasn't any good at it, but I'm willing to help you get used to being the company healer," Sataa offered, grinning a little bit. "Asa mentioned you didn't work with herbs, so maybe I can help with that? I picked up a few things when I was growing up, so I know the basics."

Madeleine found herself smiling back at the archer, "I would be grateful."

Sataa practically lit up at that, starting to plan a trip to an apothecary. She talked and talked, animatedly waving her hands as she walked beside the wagon. Kaariss quietly supervised, his sword strapped across his back, a small grin on his lips. 

The company moved along the Orlesian country, occasionally passing a traveling merchant with their "exotic" wares. They all gave Madeleine this weird look that she couldn't quite understand. It was like pity and disgust and something else. She tried not to think too much about it, and she really didn't want to mention it in her current company.

It was nearly dusk when they reached a village. Most of the company had slowed down out of exhaustion, even the horses pulling the wagon had slowed their pace to match the others. 

Asaaranda had paused, her nose raised in the air like she was smelling something, and Taarlok had glanced at her before doing the same. They looked at each other just as shouts started floating towards them, coming from the village. 

" _Basra!_ What do you see up there?" Asaaranda shouted to Madeleine. The small woman stood up in the wagon and held a hand over her brow to see the village.

There was a faint orange glow on the other side of it, and dark smoke billowing from it.

"Fire!" Madeleine yelled back to the mercenary captain. 

Asaaranda barked orders to a handful of the mercenaries, all of which responded with a Qunlat word that Madeleine hadn’t heard, before running towards the smoke.


	5. Cinq

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a content warning for this chapter. The entire chapter will be graphic, but I have set up a safety net for the more intense themes. If you would like to avoid reading about themes such as violence, attempted r*pe, derogatory language, and death, there will be a red line and a warning just before the scene, and another line afterwards to let you know that the coast is clear. Skip to the second red line if you would like to avoid such topics once you've reached the first red line. Please take care of yourself.

# The Prophet's Laurel

### Cinq

Kaariss led the wagon closer to the village, staying a safe distance from the fire so as to not spook the horses. He patted one of their sides and walked around to the wagon to Madeleine.

"Asa will want you to be near, in case there are any survivors. Some of us will stay here to watch. Let's go," he told her, helping her from the wagon. 

Two mercenaries stayed with the cart as Madeleine and a few others followed Kaariss towards the fire. They hung behind as they neared the flames, scanning for any of their kin. 

Asaaranda and Shokrakar pulled a man from the burning house, gently placing him on the dirt road that ran through the village. 

Madeleine and Kaariss ran for them, the former dropping to her knees next to the man. His skin was red and blistering, his hair singed off. 

"He was coughing when we found him, but he stopped before we got him out," Asaaranda said softly as Shokrakar walked away to look for other survivors. 

Madeleine gently held her fingers up to the man's pulse point, trying to find any sign of life. He was still hot from the flames, but there was nothing. She didn't find anything to indicate he was still alive. 

Madeleine hung her head and shook it, sighing heavily. Asaaranda echoed the sentiment as Madeleine stood up slowly. 

" _Teth a!_ We got another one!" Shokrakar yelled, a woman hanging off her shoulder and sputtering. Madeleine ran to her as Shokrakar sat her down on the dirt.

"Water! Someone find water!" Madeleine shouted at the mercenaries gathering around. She gently touched the singed woman, half of her face blistered and red. She was sobbing, shaking, her clothes in tatters. Madeleine quieted her, whispering soft sentiments and analyzing the woman's state. 

She was small, but not young. She had to be in her thirties, with the faint wrinkles showing on the unburnt side of her face. 

A mercenary set a bucket next to Madeleine, a tankard floating inside of it. She nodded and gently let the woman drink.

"Kaariss, you and Madeleine go find some supplies. I'll try to see what happened," Asaaranda ordered.

“ _Na’thek_ ,” Kaariss nodded, quickly patting his hand to his chest before pulling Madeleine up from the ground. Madeleine recognized the word from earlier, and figured it meant something like acknowledging an order.

"I'll be right back," she assured the woman, who made a pitiful noise. 

Kaariss led her to the next house over, Madeleine having to jog to keep up. They could still hear the crackling fire, but no one could do anything about it. Thedas didn't have a common way to deal with fires like that one, especially in such a small town. 

"We'll help them clean it up, and fix whatever needs to be repaired," Kaariss told her as they went through the door. "It's the least we can do for these people." Madeleine nodded slightly before moving towards a table. 

She searched for any spare cloth or alcohol to clean wounds. 

_[psst... this is where you skip to the next red line if you don't want to read the sensitive content mentioned in the notes]_

* * *

She found some things, before a loud shriek and a bang sounded out behind the house. Kaariss heard it too.

He drew his sword and slowly approached the back door of the house, Madeleine meekly following behind him, a ceramic jug in one hand and cloth stuffed into her pockets. He kicked the door open and aimed his sword at whoever was on the other side. 

"Let go of the girl," Kaariss said, his voice stern and cold. 

A dark snicker. "Walk away, beast. You've no business 'ere," answered an accented voice. Another chuckle sounded. 

"Or you can wait your turn, have our leftovers."

A scared squeak sounded, and Madeleine made to step forward, but Kaariss put his arm out to stop her from peeking around the doorframe.

"Let go of the girl," he repeated, his voice a little bit louder. "Or I use this." The sword flicked up slightly in emphasis. 

"You'd attack Templars? How stupid are you oxmen?" laughed one of the two men Madeleine still couldn't see. Yet, she had a hard time believing whoever was on the other side of the wall were what they claimed. Still, one of them drew their sword with a _shiiink_.

Madeleine braved a peek under Kaariss's arm, and made eye contact with the man who drew his sword. He grinned wickedly. 

"You've your own whore, eh, beast? Maybe we should kill you, so we don't gotta share," the supposed Templar proposed. 

Kaariss hissed and surged forward, his foot landing square on the man's iron chest plate. He toppled backwards, and Kaariss went for the other man, who Madeleine finally saw as he was still standing between the girl's legs.

The girl shrieked as Kaariss tore him from her, bracing the man's back against his body as his friend got up from the ground. Madeleine set the jug down and pulled the girl into her arms. She held her with one arm and fixed the girl's dress to cover her, putting herself between the fight and the poor girl. 

The armed man lunged at Kaariss, who instantly parried and countered, his sword going into the man's gut. The other struggled against Kaariss's hold, until he slid his sword across his throat and shoved him to the ground. 

The girl was loudly sobbing now, holding onto Madeleine like her life depended on it. Kaariss merely wiped his sword on a discarded cloth and sheathed it. 

* * *

_[the coast is clear]_

"Let's get back. We found supplies."

__

"We can't just leave her," Madeleine told him, gently patting the girl's back. Kaariss shook his head slightly, and Madeleine glared back at him. Finally, he sighed.

__

Madeleine helped the girl back towards where Asaaranda and the other woman would be, trying not to put too much weight on the girl's shaking legs. Kaariss followed behind them, the jug of alcohol in his hand. 

__

The injured woman sobbed when she saw the girl clinging to Madeleine, calling her name. The girl let go of her to drop into the other woman's lap.

__

"Sisters," Asaaranda answered when Madeleine looked confused. "This one told me about Templars coming into their house, because they suspected her brother to be an apostate. They set the house aflame and took her little sister when they locked them inside."

__

Madeleine wanted to throw up. 

__

Sataa walked up, a basket of herbs in her arms. "Here, I found these to help," she said, as Madeleine got on her knees before the two women. 

__

The two fell into an uneasy but efficient rhythm, as Madeleine doused the cloths she found with alcohol and Sataa prepared some herbs. Madeleine shushed and comforted the burned woman as she gently cleaned the blistering skin and Sataa laid bandages spread with some sap from wide red leaves over her wounds. Sataa explained it as spindleweed, to cool the burns and fight infection. 

__

The girl was a little easier to tend to, though it hurt Madeleine's heart more. The poor girl was in shock, her body shaking and her eyes blown wide. Yet she still did as Madeleine asked when she needed to make sure she wasn't injured. 

__

Asaaranda had arranged for the woman and the girl to stay in the tavern for the night. Kaariss offered to guard the door to the room while they slept, and Asaaranda agreed. It was well into the night when the fire finally died down and most of the company returned to their wagon. Madeleine had been rinsing her hands of blood and alcohol when the captain approached her. 

__

"Kaariss told me what happened in the house," she said. "And that they threatened you, too." Madeleine swallowed thickly and dried her hands on her tunic.

__

"They mentioned it, but I don't think I was in any danger."

__

"You're wrong. If Kaariss wasn't with you…" she didn't finish, but she didn't need to. "In this line of work, you can't be defenseless. You can't be helpless. And if you want to go home, wherever that is, you need to stay alive."

__

Madeleine swallowed again. "I'll stay out of the way, I'll-"

__

"That's not what I'm saying, _basra_ ," Asaaranda pinched the wide bridge of her nose, sighing. "There will always be asshats that try to get a hold of someone like you and Kaariss or any of my _kith_ won't always be there to protect you. You need to learn to defend yourself."

__

They were silent for a few moments, both thinking of how to fix that problem. Madeleine didn't want to kill anyone. Her schooling and training as a medical professional had ingrained that into her mind. But, she did understand the importance of staying alive.

__

"The company agreed to help you out, teach you some things. We start your training tomorrow, after we help rebuild."

__


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little more lighthearted than the last one, before we get into a lil more heavy stuff. BUT plot is coming I swear

#  The Prophet's Laurel 

###  Six 

The Valo-Kas mercenary company settled down for the night, just outside the village. At dawn, they began cleaning up the debris from the night before. 

Madeleine had spent most of the morning tending to the two injured women in the tavern, Sataa at her side. They were distraught, and rightfully so. The younger of the two had actually started sobbing into Madeleine's shirt when she was trying to console her. Sataa needed to excuse herself from the room then, and Madeleine was left alone with the two women.

After she had done all she could for them, Madeleine had sent food up to their room and found her way to the burned house. 

" _Basra_! Come to help?" Kaariss shouted with a grin, a beam balanced on his and another warrior's shoulder. Madeleine couldn't help but smile back. 

She was about to reply, when Asaaranda noticed her. "Good, you're here. Go help Katoh with cleaning up the ashes," she ordered, pointing in the direction of the main room, where Madeleine could see a Qunari woman on the inside through the burnt slats in the walls. 

As Madeleine approached, she noticed the broom in the woman’s hands. Before she could say anything, Katoh was already speaking. 

“I heard Asa,” Katoh said, rolling her broad shoulders under her _Antaam_. She reached behind herself before holding a broom out to Madeleine, who took it. “Are the women alright?” 

Madeleine sighed, “Physically, yes. Their injuries are healing well. Mentally? They each need time to mourn."

"You've dealt with women like that before? After they'd been…" Katoh didn't finish, but she didn't need to. 

"Sadly, yes. It happened where I'm from, too."

It was quiet for a while, the two of them sweeping out the ash and debris. They didn’t say another word, even as a handful of warriors arrived with wooden boards to patch up the walls. Katoh had nodded for her to leave. Madeleine did, skirting around the warriors and dodging the pair of men carrying a large beam on their shoulders for the house’s damaged roof.

The rest of the day was spent milling about, going back and forth through the village to help with repairs and check on the girls in the tavern. The innkeep and village baker both brought out trays of food for the mercenaries at midday. They refused to let Asaaranda pay, saying that the rebuilding efforts were enough. The innkeep stayed around, talking to Asaaranda about something Madeleine couldn’t quite hear, nor was she really paying attention. 

Katoh and Taarlok had been sitting in the dirt with her, along with Kaariss as they all ate. Madeleine learned that Katoh and Kaariss were siblings. Taarlok called Katoh his _kadan_ , and they shared a quick kiss as Kaariss gagged and wretched teasingly at them. 

Madeleine has smiled softly, barely releasing a giggle before Kaariss glowered at her, "Don't encourage them!" Both Taarlok and Katoh howled in laughter.

By nightfall, the company had taken a break from tending to the house, and had set up a campfire near where they had settled the night before. Madeleine had been walking back from the tavern after checking on the ladies once more when Asaaranda called out to her. 

“ _Basra_! Get over here!” she yelled, raising up a hand and waving it. Madeleine had hurried towards her, only to see the captain was grinning wildly. “Do you remember what we talked about last night?” Beside her, Katoh cracked a smile.

“You wanted to teach me how to defend myself…” Madeleine trailed, suddenly feeling worried about what would happen next and folded her arms around herself. 

Asaaranda stood up from her perch on a barrel, reached behind herself, and pulled a dagger from her armor. She held it out to the _basra_ , the blade between her fingers. “That’s right.” 

“Ooh, this’ll be fun. Asa playing _besrathari_ ,” Sataa giggled from her lounging spot atop the wagon. Some of the mercenaries chuckled when Madeleine tilted her head at the word. “It means trainer, _basra_.” 

Madeleine slowly wrapped her hand around the hilt of the dagger and studied it in the firelight. Symbols were scraped onto the leather bound around the hilt. Madeleine couldn’t read them, but guessed it was in Qunlat. 

“Best place to stick that thing? Here,” Asaaranda said, using her hand to show where on her body. Her fingers pointed towards a spot on her ribcage, barely covered by her _Antaam_ ’s cords. “If you’re just trying to hurt them, though, anywhere below that will do.” Asaaranda moved into a defensive stance, grinning. “Let’s see how you wield it.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Madeleine nearly choked. 

“Come on, show me how you’d use it. Don’t actually stab me, though. Shok might kill you.” The Qunari around them laughed, and Asaaranda’s grin widened. 

“I-I’m a healer. I don’t… I don’t stab people.”

“ _Basra_ , you need to learn to protect yourself,” Kaariss piped up. “You know what happens when you can’t.”

Madeleine breathed heavily, glancing at the dagger and back up at Asaaranda. The captain started to smirk. “Don’t worry. We’ll go slow.” Some of the mercenaries guffawed, but it somehow was enough for Madeleine to step one foot forward and settle herself into what she thought was a fighting stance. 

Asaaranda lunged, taking Madeleine by the arm and pulling her body towards hers. Madeleine tried to fight against it, to pull Asaaranda’s arm off of her, and her first thought was to swing the knife-wielding hand towards her. 

“Woah, woah,” Asaaranda chuckled as she caught the hand with ease. “Good, but I could see that hand coming from a mile away.” She let go of Madeleine and stepped back. 

“People aren’t going to attack her from in front of her, unless they corner her,” Katoh weighed in. “Nor will she always be holding a knife.” Asaaranda nodded and took the knife back from Madeleine. She set it on the barrel next to them, and faced Madeleine again.

They sparred, if you could even call it sparring, each moving slowly while Madeleine tried to learn whatever maneuvers Asaaranda and a few of the other mercenaries were trying to show her. Asaaranda and Madeleine would be in the middle of a maneuver, the latter entirely intimidated by the former’s size and strength, when Taarlok or Katoh or others would chime in with advice or ideas.

Nearly an hour had passed, and even though Madeleine was out of breath, she was smiling for once. Sataa had been the one to comment on it, giggling and teasing the _basra_ for it. Something inside Madeleine had made her stick her tongue out at the archer. 

“Alright, Mads,” Asaaranda breathed, grinning. “I’m gonna come after you, for real this time. Defend yourself, alright? Do whatever you need to to get away from me. Just… no stabbing.” Madeleine had never been called Mads before, but the same thing that had compelled her to stick her tongue out at Sataa had practically purred at the nickname.

Madeleine couldn’t even nod or acknowledge anything, before Asaaranda lunged for her. The Qunari woman grabbed her and yanked her to her chest, wrapping one arm around Madeleine’s chest and the other hand covering her face. Madeleine struggled against her, breathing hard, but the woman wasn’t budging.

Without even thinking, Madeleine stomped her foot over Asaaranda’s and threw an elbow back into her chest. For good measure, Madeleine threw her other elbow into her gut. The captain’s grip loosened, and Madeleine slipped out, jumping towards the knife on the barrel. She whirled back around and pointed it towards Asaaranda, panting, but the woman was doubled over, laughing airily. The captain swore in Qunlat, to which most of the mercenaries tensed up.

“Nice shot,” Asaaranda breathed, one hand up in surrender and the other on her chest. Every mercenary around them was dead silent. Then the captain laughed and dropped her hand to her knee to support herself in her fit. “Good job, _basra_.” The other mercenaries looked at each other, before joining Asaaranda in her laughter. 

Madeleine dropped the knife and surged forward, her hands over her mouth. “Oh shit, Asaaranda. I am so sorry,” she apologized profusely, unsure whether or not to touch the Qunari woman. 

“Asa, please,” she coughed, shaking her head. “Call me Asa. And don’t worry about it. You did good,” she panted, slowly rising to a more normal posture. “I’m alright. Just… you knocked the breath outta me.” 

Kaariss chortled, “Not many people can do that.” He walked past and clapped a hand on Madeleine’s shoulder. The woman winced slightly. “Though, I’m surprised Asa didn’t shield herself.”

Asa gulped down ale from a tankard, and sighed, a hand still on her stomach. “I didn’t want to alert those mage-hunting bastards.” Every mercenary straightened and stared at their captain.

“What?” Katoh questioned sharply. 

“The innkeeper. She told me that there were more rogue Templars camped out on an old farm nearby. She offered to pay for our services.”

Shokrakar nearly groaned. “Please tell me you agreed.”

“I did,” Asa nodded and took another swig of ale. “After we finish cleaning up, we’re going to make those _bazvaarad_ pay for what they’ve done.”

The entire company agreed.


	7. Sept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit gore-y, but there is no depictions of violence. Madeleine puts her healing skills to work.

#  The Prophet's Laurel 

###  Sept 

Madeleine paced in the empty tavern room, entirely too stressed of her own good. For the first time since she walked through that Eluvian, she was completely and utterly alone.

The silence was going to drive her mad. 

She had gotten used to the Valo-Kas keeping her company, and even though words weren’t always exchanged, she had managed to keep the anxious thoughts at bay. She didn’t want to let them show on her face, and raise any suspicion. But now? When she’s entirely alone?

It was as if the floodgates had been thrown open. 

What if Asaaranda died fighting those templars? Or they find out she’s a mage? 

What if Asaaranda isn’t the Inquisitor anyways? Did she make the right choice?

What if she can’t go home? What if there is no way home? Could she live the rest of her natural life in an universe she only knew through books and games?

Maker, what about her dad? What did he do when he couldn’t get a hold of her? He must’ve been so heartbroken. His daughter, his little girl… gone, without a trace.

She missed him, terribly. He was the only family she still talked to, and now? She had no one. 

Madeleine stopped wearing a line in the wooden floor and collapsed onto the bed with a shaky sigh. 

Everything from her own universe that she missed came back to the forefront of her mind. Her job at the clinic, her dingy little apartment, running water, music. Maker, the gaudy shanties the mercenaries sang were hilarious, but they still didn’t measure up to the music she listened to at home. 

She missed electricity, being able to stay up past sunset and still be able to see what was in front of her. She missed being able to go from one place to another without having to smell horse excrement or sweat. 

She missed _home_. She missed _Earth_. She was well and truly homesick.

Before she could continue to wallow in her thoughts, a loud banging on the door tore her from it.

“They’re back!” she heard the innkeeper yell before she jumped up from the bed and ran for the door. She bolted down the creaky wooden stairs and through the tavern and nearly tore the door open. 

Asa stood just on the other side, grinning slightly while hanging off of Kaariss’s shoulder. Blood dripped from her nose, and covered her side. 

Madeleine practically jumped back and held the door open for the mercenaries as they all filed into the empty tavern. 

"Well, we got the sorry bastards," Asaaranda coughed while Kaariss set her on one of the tavern's benches. Shokrakar chuckled darkly as she slumped onto a barrel in the corner. 

"You're bleeding," Madeleine practically slid on her knees towards Asa, hands reaching for her bloodied side. 

"Ack, it's nothing. Taarlok will need your help more," the captain waved towards her third-in-command, who was groaning quietly as Katoh laid him back on a table. 

Madeleine glared at Asa as she moved towards him. "Bleeding isn't nothing," she grumbled, almost growled, and stood over Taarlok. 

" _Tama_ ," Asa shot back, leaving back against the table she was at and clenched her fingers over her nose. 

_Tama_ , Madeleine had to remind herself, _Tamassrans_ were the Qunari equivalent to mothers, priests, and healers.

"Damn archers," Katoh fretted around Taarlok, cutting the bindings on his armor to rid him of it. Madeleine saw the broken-off arrowheads stuck in it, but there were more in his shoulders and one on his side. He hissed when Madeleine gently touched her fingers to the bloodied skin around the one in his side. 

"Well, it's good you didn't take any of these out before you got here," Madeleine kept studying the arrowheads poking out of his bloodied torso. 

"We might have thick skulls, but we're not idiots," Taarlok himself coughed, trying his best to lift one side of his mouth into a grin. 

Madeleine asked the innkeeper to bring her clean water and an unopened bottle of alcohol, while Sataa ran upstairs to get her big canvas bag of supplies. Madeleine did her best to tie her thick greasy hair back with the small leather strap Katoh had given her and sat on the bench next to Taarlok. 

Sataa had come running down the stairs like a bat out of hell, pack in hand, and Madeleine got to work.

* * *

After over an hour of carefully pulling arrowheads out of Taarlok's skin, hoping the one on his side wasn't as deep as she feared, Madeleine had rinsed her hands of his blood and spent another two hours tending to the other mercenaries. Sataa had stood beside her, ready to lend her hands and knowledge on herbs. 

Apparently, elfroot was as crucial and versatile as the games had portrayed it. Sataa helped Madeleine boil some into a potion for the worse-for-wear mercenaries. The smell of it reminded her of the mint tea she used to drink back home. 

Sataa showed her how to prepare spindleweed for dressing wounds to stave off infection. Apparently the wide red leaves were similar to an aloe plant, with a honey-like substance filling each leaf. Sataa had talked her through scraping the liquid and spreading it onto a bandage, before they dressed all of Taarlok's wounds like that. He had hissed slightly, but the stuff seemed to soothe him once it was on properly. 

Even after the more well-off mercenaries went back to camp, and the injured ones fell asleep in the tavern, Madeleine stayed up to mop the blood off the wooden floors.

"Miss, you really don't need to do that. I can handle it," the innkeep gently nudged. 

Madeleine shook her head, scrubbing the floors with a ruddy looking mop. "No, we made this mess. I should clean it up. You have so much else to do."

"It's alright. I can handle it," the innkeep smiled softly, before her expression turned a little sad. "Are you always cleaning up their messes?"

The words startled her enough to make her freeze and look at the woman. "Oh no, it isn't like that. I'm their healer."

"I can see that," the woman said, her eyes on the blood stains on Madeleine's clothing. "For how long?"

How long _had_ it been? A month, maybe, since she fell through that Eluvian. She knew she couldn't tell the innkeeper the truth, so she shrugged and said, "A while." 

"And they're… good to you?" her tone changed, and Madeleine could tell that the innkeeper was thinking of the poor girl upstairs, still mourning with her sister. 

"They are, for the most part," Madeleine tried to reassure the woman, without alerting her too much. If she had been acting like the Qunari mercenaries were too good for her bias, red flags might have been raised. "They're a little… rough around the edges. Not the best at manners, but they're mercenaries, not Teyrns."

Madeleine wanted to snort. She had played the first game in the series as a human noble, and remembered some of the Fereldan nobility to be less mannered than the mercenaries she kept company nowadays. 

It was quiet for a few long moments afterwards, before the innkeep spoke up again. "I have a contact in a town not too far from here, if you're looking for more work. I think he's looking for a company to hire, for security."

Madeleine's head snapped up, the mop in her hands freezing in place. She forced herself to keep cleaning, though, to keep her next question casual. "Do you know what for?"

"My contact works with the Chantry, so it might be for that big meeting the Divine called for. I don't really know, but you could ask him."

"I'll see if my company will be heading that way," Madeleine tried to stay as casual as she could, but she needed, absolutely _needed_ that contact to hire the company for the Conclave. If the job wasn't for the Conclave, Madeleine might never go home.


	8. Huit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY DRAGON AGE DAY!!! A giant thank you to anyone who's stumbled across my little fic and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

#  The Prophet's Laurel 

###  Huit 

As it turned out, Asaaranda didn't need much convincing to go meet the innkeeper's contact. When Madeleine had told her, she must have seen the desperation behind the basra's words. Also, Asaaranda made no promises whether or not to agree to the job. Shokrakar had groaned and grumbled the entire slow march to the next town. 

Taarlok had rested in the wagon next to Madeleine as the company moved, healing well but not quite in traveling shape. He slept most of the journey, saying that the movement in the wagon made him tired. Madeleine understood, and was just glad he wasn't coming down with an infection. 

When the company stopped for the night, Asaaranda pulled Madeleine aside, out of earshot of the other mercenaries. 

"What are you hoping the contact says tomorrow?" she asked, leaning against a tree. Asaaranda had pulled out that leather bound dagger she had used to train Madeleine with and gently cleaned the blade. 

"I'm hoping that they hire the Valo-Kas for the Divine Conclave," Madeleine answered her honestly. 

"Why?" The word wasn't harsh, wasn't judgemental in the slightest. Asaaranda's golden eyes flicked to her, curious, and willing to hear her out. 

"Because you have to be at the Conclave, if I'm going to be able to go home."

Her dark brows flicked up, in stark contrast to her white hair. "My going to the Conclave will let you go home?"

Madeleine sighed and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes softly. "You being at the Conclave will set off a chain of events that will hopefully let me go home, yes." 

"How do you know this?" Again, no judgement. Not an interrogation. 

"I don't want to mess up everything by telling you what will happen."

"I'm not asking what's going to happen. I'm asking how you know."

Madeleine sighed again. "Where I'm from, that other universe? We have stories about this world. They don't chronicle everything, only the stories surrounding the Hero of Fereldan and the Champion of Kirkwall. And there's another story, starting just after the Divine Conclave."

Asaaranda's head tilted, her ornate iron-tipped horns glinting in the moonlight. "So, something will happen at the Conclave, and I need to be there for it. What does that have to do with you getting back to your own world?"

"If I'm right, you'll meet someone that can take me home."

"And if you're wrong?"

"You die. And any hope of me going home dies with you."

* * *

Finding the contact in the town of Val Firmin turned out to be a rather easy feat. In fact, the contact himself had approached them first.

Farrier, his name was, and a bell rang off in Madeleine's mind. She couldn't remember why she had known that name, but she did. 

"My master, Sister Nightingale, is in need of security in Haven. She will pay very well, if you're interested," he had told Asaaranda when they sat down in the tavern together. Most of the company, including Shokrakar and Taarlok, stayed with the cart and the horses. Asaaranda had asked that only Kaariss and Madeleine join her at the meeting. 

The three of them sat on one side of a table, sharing a bench, directly facing the agent who sat alone on the other side. His attire was dark, and reminded Madeleine of the Inquisition uniforms she had modded into her games. The dark grey mottled fabric that made up his hood and much of the rest of his uniform was pinned together at his collarbone, a small iron brooch pinning it together. Madeleine recognized the sun shape stamped onto it to be the Chantry's emblem.

"What's the job entail?" Kaariss had asked after he let his tankard, compliments of Farrier, hit the table with a quiet thud. 

"Merely a security force, to help keep the peace between the mages and Templars at the Divine Conclave."

Asaaranda glanced at Madeleine, who could barely nod. 

"And we can trust that this isn't a fake contract?" Asaaranda added, her head crooning and tilting at the agent sitting opposite of her. The look she had given the man should have been enough to scare the man outright, if he wasn't telling the truth. 

"Sister Nightingale tasked me with finding a mercenary company without any political affiliations to act as a neutral security force," Farrier assured the three of them. "I'll show you the contract she sent with me. It has her writing and seal on it."

The hooded man dug into a leather satchel at his hip and pulled out a piece of parchment. He slid it towards Asaaranda, and she studied it. Madeleine could see the wax stamp in the corner of the letter, along with a neat signature. The emblem on the purple wax stamp looked like a raven, with the Chantry sun symbol behind it. 

Kaariss had kept his eyes on Farrier, watching him closely as Asaaranda read through the mock up contract. To his credit, Farrier didn't cower under the scrutiny. 

"Do you have a quill and inkwell?" Asaaranda asked after a long tense moment. Farrier nodded and pulled both from his satchel and slid them across the table. 

Another moment passed, Asaaranda scratching her signature on the parchment and handing it back. 

Farrier gently blew on the ink and smiled. "See you in Haven, milady."


	9. Neuf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It's been a lil while! Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, the holidays are always a hectic time of year and I haven't really been writing all that much lately. I just finished revising this chapter and I thought, what the hell. Might as well post to help kick the new year off with a bang (pun absolutely intended). My advice for this chapter: buckle in, folks.

# The Prophet's Laurel

### Neuf

Haven wasn’t what Madeleine had anticipated. She thought it would be the small area it had been in the third game, with a few huts lining the area in front of the Chantry. She had no idea just how many _people_ there would be, and the lodging to accommodate all of them. 

Rather than having more houses around the area the game had shown, the area itself was larger, almost stretched to fit more houses between them. Madeleine would’ve counted, if it hadn’t been for the sheer amount of pilgrims milling around and inside the religious destination. Even in the morning hours, people were running about, preparing for the Conclave later in the day. 

The Valo-Kas mercenary band had marched all the way from Val Firmin where the contact had been to the Valley of Sacred Ashes without much rest, and yet they all looked ready for a fight. After she had seen the look on all their faces, Kaariss had sent her a wink, pride swelling his chest. They stopped their travelling party outside the village, in the flat land just up the muddy road. 

“They’ll be expecting us in the Chantry, so don’t settle in yet. Our contact said to meet there to receive orders, so that is the first priority,” Asaaranda announced, helping one of the Ashaads unhook the horses from the wagon Madeleine had just climbed off of. She silently hissed at the cold snow biting at her sprained ankle through her worn boots. The sprain was still relatively fresh, having twisted when she had climbed up a particularly steep portion of the path when the horses couldn't manage with her weight on it. “Shokrakar will stay here, with most of us, to guard the supplies. Taarlok and Kaariss, with me.”

Madeleine didn’t mind that she wasn’t going into the village. She wasn’t quite sure how, but she had become used to being around the Tal-Vashoth. Humans, her own race, felt weird to be around after weeks of only being with the mercenaries. 

The four mercenaries exchanged a few words before heading back into Haven while Shokrakar sat, leaning against a nearby tree. Her greataxe rested between her legs as she pulled out a cloth and a stone to take care of the axehead. Other warriors took up spots around the little clearing, keeping guard. Sataa and Katoh had approached Madeleine, the latter glancing off where her brother and her lover had disappeared. 

“What do you think of this Conclave, _basra_?” Sataa asked, hopping up onto the back of the wagon. “Do you think it would work?”

Only Asaaranda had been told of Madeleine’s strange background, so she had to choose her next words cautiously. “I think the Divine has good intentions. It could work, if she can get both sides to come to a compromise. Just… be careful.”

“I hope it doesn’t make life any harder for Asa,” Katoh added quietly. Madeleine and Sataa both nodded. 

“I hope she finds peace with who she is,” Sataa agreed, her feet swinging slightly. “I hate to see her pretend to be something she’s not.”

Sataa’s words echoed in Madeleine’s head as they all waited for Asa and the others to return with orders. Katoh had passed the time by stretching her muscles and posing in ways that reminded Madeleine of yoga. Sataa had whittled mindlessly on her bow, carefully scratching designs in with a dagger. Shokrakar and other warriors made sure all the weapons and armor were properly cared for. 

It was still an hour or so before noon when Asaaranda returned to the company wagon, Taarlok and Kaariss in tow. As soon as the mercenaries caught sight of her, they all jumped to attention. 

“We leave as soon as possible. I’ll assign positions at the Temple,” she announced, her voice carrying over the clearing. Every mercenary hurried about to pack and prepare, while Asa headed straight for Madeleine. “You know what happens? You know how this Conclave ends?” 

With a swallow, Madeleine nodded. 

“This is your chance to prove it. Tell me what to do.”

So she did, or at least what she thought Asa needed to do. She told her to patrol the Temple alone, look for anything suspicious, trust in her gut. They had discussed it for a few minutes, Asa clarifying what insight Madeleine had given her. 

Madeleine would stay in Haven, out of harm’s way, during the Conclave. Asa had _ordered_ her to, to protect her from whatever was coming. Madeleine hated it, argued against it, but it was an order, one that would save her life. Asaaranda had even given her the dagger they had practiced with, an exchange that had caught Katoh's eye and apparently surprised her enough for her to give the captain a peculiar look.

“ _Teth a_ , Valo-Kas!” Asaaranda called at the end of their conversation. She turned away, unhooking the spear at her back. She walked towards the mercenaries, a certain confidence in her step. 

“Asa!” Madeleine found herself calling out to her, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. The mercenary captain looked back at her, over an armored shoulder. “Stay alive.” 

The grin she had given Madeleine filled the small woman with hope.

* * *

Madeleine watched from atop the wagon as pilgrims, mages, Templars, and Chantry officials disappeared into the mountains on their way to the temple. The Conclave would start soon, and Madeleine wasn't sure how much longer those people had to live. 

Part of her wanted to scream at them to turn around, to run the other way. Part of her wanted to warn them of the ancient magister biding his time in that temple. And yet, her tongue fell leaden in her mouth. Madeleine couldn’t speak, only watch as the people marched towards their end. 

The knife Asa had given her was resting on her thigh, the small bit of weight somehow comforting. She knew that all of the Valo-Kas company would manage to make it out alive, but she also remembered the War Table missions. Some of them wouldn't make it to see Asa save the world. Madeleine cursed herself for not paying attention to the names on those letters. 

The sun was at its highest when Madeleine's stomach rumbled slightly, calling attention to the hollow feeling in her abdomen. She hated leaving the wagon, but she'd rather not mess up any of the supplies to find herself something to eat. 

It didn't take her long to find her way back to Haven, and towards the tavern. 

Flissa, the innkeeper, had been kind enough to bring out a hot batch of ram stew for her, to which Madeleine had thanked her profusely as she warmed her hands on the chipped ceramic bowl. 

"Who 're ya here for?" Flissa asked politely, mindlessly rubbing a rag over the bar top. Madeleine had taken one of the few seats left in the tavern, which happened to be at the bar. Not that Flissa seemed to mind. When Madeleine had given her a confused look, Flissa clarified, "Mages or Templars?"

"Neither," Madeleine shook her head and set the beaten spoon back in her bowl. "I'm a healer. My mercenary company was hired to help keep the peace."

That seemed to pique Flissa's interest. "Oh? You've been travelin'? Where abouts?" 

"We were in the Dales for a bit, then Val Firmin, and now here," Madeleine said vaguely, trying to not put too much attention to their past locations. 

"I just got 'ere myself, a few weeks ago. Sister Leliana hired me to run the tavern durin' the Conclave, keep people fed and happy,'' Flissa rambled slightly, her lilted voice and her accent blending together with her words.

Madeleine picked up her spoon again to finish off the bowl of stew, smiling a little bit. It was nice to hold a conversation with someone, one that didn’t press into her personal life or capabilities as a healer. She had gotten pretty good at dodging and skirting around those sorts of questions with the company, but this was nice. She’d never think she enjoyed small talk so much.

Flissa took the bowl once Madeleine had polished the rest of her stew off, the barkeep grinning. “You said you’re a healer?” she asked, sinking the dish in a barrel of water. “Apothecary Adan will have supplies, if you’re lookin’ for any. He’s a crank, but he’ll help ya out.” Flissa looked pointedly at the bar top, as if she could see Madeleine’s hurt foot through the wood. Madeleine glanced at it, then tilted her head at the barkeep. “I gotta take care of my patrons,” she shrugged, before slipping out from behind the counter and making her way through the tables. 

Madeleine rolled her ankle slowly, stretching it. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have another opinion on it, besides her own. Maybe Adan would have something to help wrap it, rather than the ruined tunic she had tried to use as a bandage.

She put a few coins on the bar and slowly slid off her stool, before weaving her way out of the tavern and up towards the apothecary. The walk was brisk, even in the late summer, and each step in the cold mud had her ankle stinging. 

The apothecary was deliciously warm when she got inside, pushing the heavy wooden door closed behind her. The hearth was crackling and hissing softly, putting out heat into the cottage. When Madeleine glanced at it, she could see the beaten iron pot hanging over it, the liquid inside steaming slightly. 

Adan was standing in the far corner, across the cottage from the fire, leaned over a few books and parchments. His hands laid on the desk in front of him, his fingers curled under, showing his white knuckles. The Chantry sister standing behind him must have been annoying him enough for him to look so frustrated. 

“As I told you, Master Taigen isn’t here. Take it up with him once he gets back from the Conclave.”

“But we need Templar approval on his notes for the lyri-”

“The Templars can wait until he gets back,” Adan interrupted her, whirling around in his spot. His eyes landed on Madeleine as he did so, and he briefly acknowledged her. “Leave, sister. I have a customer.”

The Chantry sister huffed and stormed away, trying to slam the cottage door on her way out and failing under the weight of it. 

Adan pinched his fingers on the bridge of his nose. “What do you need?”

“I know you’re not a healer, but,” Madeleine swallowed, “do you have anything I could bind my ankle with? I twisted it on the road here and don’t have the supplies to tend to it properly.”

He looked down at the foot she tried her best not to put weight on, and nodded towards the chair in front of the fire. She crossed the room and sat in it, nervously holding her hands in her lap. “You’re a healer?” he asked, opening up a chest and pulling a roll of bandage from it.

“A travelling one. My company is at the Conclave, keeping peace.”

“And they left you down here in this mud pit?”

Madeleine suppressed a nervous laugh, “I probably couldn’t make the journey up to the Temple, so they had me stay down here.”

Adan pulled a chair in front of her and sat in it. He made to lean over, but Madeleine lifted her foot up at a more tolerable height for him. He silently thanked her with a nod and made quick work of her ruined boot. 

“You need better boots, ones that fit. Not these sorry things.” 

“I will see what the merchant has in stock.”

Adan snorted, “You’re better off asking Harritt down at the forge. That blond cheat Seggrit will make you pay through your teeth.”

While they talked, Adan rid her of the ruined tunic she had been using as a wrap and pushed her pants cuff a little farther up her calf. He gently prodded at the ankle and assessed it, before wrapping it tightly in bandage. 

“This should help, since it isn’t all that bad. It’s a bit swollen, but this’ll do. Take care how you step, though. Too fast or land too hard, it’ll get worse,” he advised, securing the bandage with a tight knot and setting her foot back on the floor. He stood up abruptly, slid the chair back, and went back to his spot in front of the desk in the corner. 

“Thank you,” Madeleine grinned at him. He glanced at her as she laced up her boot again, suppressing his own smile as he nodded passively. Madeleine took it as her cue to leave. 

Madeleine had been on her way to the forge, already too familiar of a village she had only physically been in for a few hours, when a loud crack of thunder echoed through the valley. She looked up towards the mountains, towards the Temple. 

She could barely make out the snow drifting around the temple, and marveled in the peacefulness for a moment. Part of her would have loved to explore the temple, to walk where her Hero of Fereldan walked, where her Inquisitor now stood. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as she thought about the hundreds of people in the temple, oblivious to their doom. 

The explosion she had been waiting for finally came, but not as she had imagined from the game. First it was the birds in the trees, as if sensing the oncoming eruption, all took off from their perches at once, a frantic cloud of feathers scattering and moving away from the temple. 

Then the sound. A loud, thundering _boom_ rattled through the valley, visibly shaking the trees and whatever birds hadn’t left with the rest. People were already yelping, wide-eyed and horrified as they all turned towards the temple. 

Before anyone could breathe, green light exploded from the temple. Madeleine crouched down and hid her face, shaking as the light threatened to blind her. When it subsided, she slowly stood back up again to look around her. 

A wailing scream tore from a woman nearby, and Madeleine followed her gaze up to the temple just in time to see it collapse in on itself.


	10. Dix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeleine, an emergency clinic nurse, finds herself on the floor of an elven ruin, in a world that she only knew as fiction. Now she must stay alive long enough to go home. To do so, she offers her services as a healer to a mercenary company, the Valo-Kas, whose captain is none other than Asaaranda, one of Madeleine's own Inquisitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry for the suuuper long delay in posting. I haven't really been writing lately, but I offer this angsty crumb in apology.

#  The Prophets Laurel 

###  Dix 

The entire village of Haven seemed to hold its breath as the dust started to settle around the mountain and in the valley, the most concentrated around where the Temple of Sacred Ashes had been, at the base of a giant green shaft of light. 

The people screamed as that shaft of light tore open the sky above, and glowing masses of black and green started to fall out of it.

The Divine Conclave… all those people… gone.

Madeleine could only hope that one person had made it out alive.

Within minutes, the village was a frenzy of activity again. Chantry sisters and soldiers ran around, yelling and barking orders to find shelter. A small contingent of soldiers marched at double time past Madeleine, heading towards the mountain pass, the shields on their back rattling. Madeleine would have watched them, watched as other soldiers joined with their ranks, had it not been for a Chantry mother running towards her.

“To the Chantry,” she cried out, flailing her arms. “Everyone to the Chantry. Find shelter!” She grabbed a hold of Madeleine’s forearm and dragged her along. Madeleine didn’t fight, only kept looking over her shoulder at where the Temple would have been. 

Madeleine wasn’t religious, and she definitely didn’t believe in a fictitious god. Still, she had sent up a prayer to the Maker and his bride to keep Asaaranda safe.

Chantry officials and pilgrims were already lighting candles and singing laments to the Maker. Most of the devout were on their knees in front of the altars, crying out their prayers. Others were leaning on each other. Some weren’t singing at all, only huddled in the corner, in shock. Madeleine had joined them, her hands shaking.

She had no idea how much time had passed in that Chantry, as she curled herself in the corner. The singing and crying had been drowned out by the sheer silence in Madeleine’s mind as she contemplated everything.

Had she sent the Valo-Kas to their deaths? Had she sent Asaaranda to her death?

What if Asaaranda hadn’t been the one to find Corypheus? What if someone else had? 

What if she had to risk explaining herself to another Herald? Or could she lay low, try to blend in with everyone else until Morrigan became a part of the Inquisition?

The world seemed to pause again as the Chantry doors were thrown open, and the yelling began.

Soldiers stormed inside, pushing pilgrims away to make a path through the room. 

“Make way!” the soldiers echoed each other, just as another group of them were coming in through the doors. They had closed ranks around something, some of them grunting as if they were dragging something between them. It was too crowded and chaotic to see what-- or who--- they were filed around. 

The turmoil had died down slightly, once the soldiers disappeared through one of the doors inside the Chantry. Pilgrims were now chattering amongst themselves, wondering what the hell was going on. 

The entire Chantry sat in confusion for a good while, before an armored woman stormed out of the door all the soldiers had disappeared into. If Madeleine didn’t recognize the short black hair, she sure as hell knew the chestpiece she was wearing. Dark metal, with a white flaming eye painted on it.

Cassandra Pentaghast looked like a violent storm as she stood, near seething at that door. 

“Haven is safe! Everyone who isn’t part of the Chantry needs to leave this building now!” her voice boomed and nearly echoed off the stone walls. Almost instantly, pilgrims had flooded out of the Chantry, Madeleine caught up in their rush to the door. 

Before she could push through them, she was outside in the snow, the Chantry doors slammed shut. 

“The Herald?”

“Who the hell is the Herald?”

“The Herald of Andraste!” cried a man, pleading in front of a group of chattering Chantry sisters. “Andraste saved her from the Fade! I saw it!”

Pilgrims had started to listen in as well, forming a crowd around him. 

“The Herald will save us all! Andraste herself chose the Herald!” the man wailed, on his knees in the muddy path. 

Another pilgrim piped in, “I saw it too! Andraste was in the Fade behind her!”

 _Her_. Madeleine’s heart nearly skipped a beat. 

“Who is this Herald? Who did you see?” Madeleine questioned loudly, and the crying man turned to her. 

“Well, I-I don’t know. It was too bright…” 

“It was a woman!” a different voice added in. 

“Who. Was. It?” 

“O-One of those lady oxmen, woman. A-Andraste saved her.”

 _Lady oxmen_. 

The sound that tore from Madeleine’s throat sounded like a sob, and she turned and bolted back towards the Chantry’s doors. She practically threw herself onto the doors, trying to get in. 

“Chantry only. Go away,” said the soldier that opened the door to answer. 

“I need to see Seeker Cassandra! I need to see the prisoner!” Madeleine nearly screamed at him, trying to push the door open more. She grunted under the struggle, and threw her shoulder into it. The soldier lost balance a second, and Madeleine surged through the opening. 

Soldiers began yelling as she kept running towards where she saw the soldiers carrying the prisoner, praying that it was Asaaranda, and that she was alive. People scrambled around her, trying to get a hold on her, to stop her, but she dodged each one until she threw open that door. 

“Seeker Cassandra!” Madeleine cried out as two soldiers finally took hold of her arms. She tried to fight them, to run from them, but they had her. “Seeker Cassandra!”

The Seeker appeared at the bottom of the stairwell through the door Madeleine had just opened. Madeleine nearly sobbed again when she saw that familiar face. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Cassandra stormed towards her. 

“The prisoner! I need to see her!” 

“And who do you think you are making such demands?”

Madeleine panted, “I’m her healer. I’m in her company. Let me see her, please!”

Cassandra looked her up and down, before those hard hazel eyes flicked to the soldiers holding Madeleine. She barely nodded, before stepping out of the way as both soldiers started to push Madeleine into the stairwell. 

The soldiers carried her down into the Chantry dungeon, all while Madeleine was kicking and fighting to get free from their grasp. She cried out, pain surging up her hurt ankle. 

“Asa!” Madeleine screamed, searching for the mercenary captain as she fought. 

She barely caught a glimpse of white hair before the soldiers threw her into a cell. She landed awfully hard on her lame foot and sobbed, collapsing onto the cold wet stones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Also, a small side note: would y'all like me to post longer chapters? Or do y'all like the ~1k words a chapter thing we've got going?)


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